The Rights of the Deceased: Moral Rights Incidental to Copyright Law
- Vanshika Agrawal
- 2024-04-25
Prevention of Sexual Harassment “Everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security of person”
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[1]
Sexual Harassment at the workplace is not only a gross violation of one’s human rights, but it also leads to an unhealthy, hostile work environment. Sexual harassment is an unwanted sexual intrusion of a person, which psychologically impacts the victim. The Universal Declaration of Human rights (UDHR) adopted by the UN General Assembly states certain human rights which are guaranteed to all, some of which also deal with sexual harassment. Convention on the Elimination of sexual harassment (CEDAW) from time and again makes various recommendations to the UN,
one of such is general recommendation 19 explained under Article 11 of UN charter which talks about sexual harassment of women at workplace.[2]
Throughout the world, various countries have signed various treaties, which create an obligation on the signatories to enforce laws that protect persons from sexual harassment at the workplace. All countries have their own sets of laws
for the same, like India where s.294 of IPC deals with obscenity, s.354C deals with voyeurism, etc.
Contents hide
1 Evolution of Sexual Harassment Law in India
3 Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013
India even after ratifying CEDAW in 1993 didn’t have any effective legislation on sexual harassment in the workplace. The issue was first addressed in 1997, in the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan[3]. Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan is said to be a landmark judgement,
as it laid down essential guidelines that specifically dealt with the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace.
The court in its judgement stated that sexual harassment is a grave violation of one’s fundamental rights guaranteed under articles 14[4], article 15[5], article 19[6], and article 21[7] of the Indian Constitution. Along with which the court also noted that the existent civil and penal laws in place didn’t guarantee protection and redressal to women who faced sexual harassment at the workplace. The Vishaka guidelines were make as an attempt to ensure
that women are not discriminate against or victimize when faced with the issue of sexual harassment.
As time pass, many issues sprung up which were not cover under the ambit of these guidelines. Therefore, not much change could be seen in the state of women in regard to sexual harassment at the workplace[8]. Firstly, informal workers like landless labour, small farmers, workers in brick-kilns, etc. were not cover under these guidelines. Secondly, as India is a patriarchal society, sexual harassment is not seen as a serious offence due to which in cases of sexual harassment mostly women were blamed,
shunned from the society where society preferred to isolate the victim rather than help them.
Thirdly, as women started working in various organisations, most of the organisations then failed to acknowledge or even integrate the issue of sexual harassment as an organisation policy. Lastly, apart from the inefficient execution of these, the guidelines themselves were very vague on the mechanism where companies use this as a loophole where they were able to manipulate internal grievance mechanism through the way of redressal. Most of the companies used
this loophole to threaten, intimidate, and further harass the victims of sexual harassment so as to force them into submission or silence.[9]
Even though the guidelines were not completely effective, they did ensure that sexual harassment became intolerable in the eyes of society as these guidelines motivated many women across the counties to voice their experience of sexual harassment. As more and more women opened and came forward with particular incidents of sexual harassment, the government was deem to take action. Hence, the Indian government in 2013 passed
the Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, in accordance with the Vishaka guidelines.
The newly passed act unlike Vishaka guidelines covered both organised as well as unorganised sectors. The act clearly defines the terms aggrieved woman, appropriate government, workplace, sexual harassment, and redressal, along with certain mandatory requirements. One of such requirements was the establishment of committees in an organisation, where they would work towards resolving issues of sexual harassment in an organisation. The act clearly states the procedure, and
power of these committees so as to ensure justice to the victims of sexual harassment.
Now, women apart from this act can also seek relief under the Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act, 1946, which is also somewhat based on Vishaka guidelines but doesn’t carry the limitations of Vishaka guidelines as it is a
gender-neutral law, not restricted to only a particular gender. Along with which Indian Penal Code, 1860 also deals with the offence of sexual harassment under s.294[10], s.354A[11], and s.509[12]where women can seek redressal against sexual harassment issue faced by them.
Even though the Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act in 2013 resolves the limitation of Vishaka guidelines, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t havethe limitations of its own. The act itself faces various issues like for one, unlike Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act, 1946 it is not gender-neutral,
where it only offers redressal for women.
Secondly, the act doesn’t include any provision for educating or sensitization of the women of the unorganised sector. Since most of the women in unorganised sector are illiterate, they have little or no knowledge about their rights, due to which most of these women don’t complain. Thirdly, the act has a vague yet wide array of the term employee which leads to false accusations and unnecessary litigation. Fourthly, the act doesn’t make it a requirement for the employers
to report the case of sexual harassment if they are aware of it, which ultimately leaves the victim helpless
as they are too scare to approach the authorities for the same.
the act specifies a period of 3 months, only under which the incident can be reported, this provision can lead the victim unable to raise their voice against the wrong as at times many victims take time to process the incident and build up the confidence to raise their voice. Hence, the time provision limits the victim. Last but not least, the act itself constrains the meaning of the term sexual harassment. Hence, a much-needed reform is necessary wherein the legislation should work more towards creating gender-neutral laws and educating the women about their rights. Apart from which there is an urgent need
to abolish the culture of victim-blaming, as this culture demotivates the victim from coming forward. Lastly, the effective implementation of these laws should be ensured so that the victim can get justice
timely and doesn’t have to wait for several years before getting closure.[13]
[1]Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
[2]General recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against woman, Un.org., (Jan 07, 2021; 11:15AM), https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#top.
[3] Vishaka vs State of Rajasthan AIR 1997 SC 3011
[4] Article 14 of the Indian constitution – Equality before law
[5] Article 15 of the Indian Constitution – Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth
[6] 19 of the Indian Constitution – Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech
[7] Article 21 of the Indian Constitution – Protection of life and personal liberty
[8]Ruchira Baruah, A critical analysis of the laws available in India against sexual harassment at workplace, Legalservices.com, (Jan 6, 2021; 09:38PM), http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/2545/The-Law-Against-Sexual-Harassment.html
[9] Sheba Tejani, Sexual Harassment at the workplace: emerging Problems and Debates, 39 Economic and Political Weekly, 4491-4494 (2004)
[10] Section 294 of the IPC – Obscene acts and songs
[11] 354A of the IPC – Sexual harassment and punishment for Sexual Harassment
[12] Section 509 of the IPC – Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman
[13] Understanding Sexual Harassment Law in India/My LegalWork, MyLegalWork, (Jan 07, 2021; 7:25PM) https://mylegalwork.com/guides/sexual-harassment
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